Thursday, March 30, 2017

When we’re broken, it’s sometimes
hard to imagine that God can make us whole again. Yet, as Psalm 130 reminds us, God’s sole focus
is on forgiveness and redemption, on healing that which is
broken – and our faith stories tell us that God is not interested in breaking anything further.The prophet Ezekiel is chosen by God to call
the people of Israel – languishing in exile – back to life as they once had
known it:I will open your graves and have you rise from them… I will put my
spirit in you that you may live, God says. It is a promise to lift the people from the death-like state of
exile through the bond of covenant, a bond that will tie them once again to their
God, making them whole, restoring them to life.

When Jesus sets Lazarus free
from the bonds of death in John’s Gospel, he simultaneously urges all those who
are watching to loose the knots in their own hearts that have consigned Lazarus
to that death:Untie him, and let him go, Jesus saysFor they too must move with Jesus through
death to life.Likewise, it is Jesus’
death and resurrection that make it possible for him to lift us from the depths
of sin and despair to life in the Spirit.But we must, like Martha, profess our belief in Jesus’ power to do
so:everyone
who lives and believes in me will never die, Jesus tells her.

Our lives are a constant
journey with Jesus, moving through his Passion, from death to life, drawing
ever closer to our own life in him.If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus
from the dead dwells in you, Paul tells the Roman community, the one who raised Christ from the dead will
give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit dwelling in you.Do we believe God is able to lift us to
life?If we are open to the power of the
Spirit of God in our lives, we should have no doubts:Jesus is the
resurrection and the life – the God who lifts us from our brokenness,
making us whole, lifting us to life in Christ.

Saturday, March 25, 2017

The most important part of today’s Gospel (Lk 2:26-38) may
be the phrase, Then the angel left
her.

This is the part about faith.Who knows if Mary had as profound a religious
experience between her visit with the Angel Gabriel and Jesus’ first miracle at
Cana?After the angel leaves, Mary has
to trust in God’s promises to her.

How similar this is to our own lives. We have a deep
experience of God, and then must rely on it.Often for many years.